Rostelecom not block YouTube in Omsk, suspends access to it

September 19, 2012, 10:08 UTC+3The Internet access was suspended to this video portal in Omsk and the Omsk Region on the strength of a letter from the Prosecutor’s Office in the Omsk Region

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Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, September 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The Russian national telecommunications operator Rostelecom stated that the company did not block the access to the video portal YouTube for the Rostelecom subscribers in all Russian regions, Rostelecom said in a statement made public on Wednesday.

“The Internet access was suspended to this video portal in Omsk and the Omsk Region on the strength of a letter from the Prosecutor’s Office in the Omsk Region,” the statement runs. Rostelecom did not introduce any restrictions on the YouTube access for residents of Omsk and all Russia, the company said in the statement.

“The lawyers of the company are studying the recommendations of the Russian information technologies and communications supervising agency and various instructions from the Prosecutor’s Office,” the Rostelecom statement said.

On Tuesday, Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov warned that the access to this video resource may be shut down in all Russian regions over a scandalous video film Innocence of Muslims posted on it. This may happen if the Russian court finds it extremist and the YouTube owners refuse to delete it. “I believe that everything will be all right. The court will make a ruling to delete the video. YouTube will block the video itself for Russia,” Nikiforov wrote in his Twitter blog later. The Russian telecommunications supervising agency earlier urged the telecommunications operators to block the access concretely to this video and recommended the media not to promote its distribution.